- Former Man Utd star reveals favourite striking partner
- Names Argentine striker as his favourite player to link up with
- How the duo performed together
Wayne Rooney named Carlos Tevez as the finest strike partner of his career, a choice that may surprise some supporters.
Across his spells with Manchester United and England, Rooney played alongside some of the most decorated forwards of his generation. Cristiano Ronaldo, Robin van Persie and Dimitar Berbatov all shared a pitch with him, yet it is Tevez who stands above the rest in his eyes.
The choice becomes even more intriguing when viewed through the numbers. Rooney and Tevez combined for just 10 goals between them, fewer than Rooney managed with Ronaldo (26), Ryan Giggs (23), Nani (23) and Berbatov (12).
In fact, Tevez ranks joint-12th among Rooney’s most productive combinations, sitting behind the likes of Van Persie, Danny Welbeck, and even Darren Fletcher.
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Rooney and Tevez’s terror reign
Their time together lasted only two seasons, but Rooney and Tevez played a key role in one of the most successful periods of Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign. During their time together, United won back-to-back Premier League titles, the Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup.
Tevez arrived from West Ham on a two-year loan in August 2007 and quickly became a favourite at Old Trafford. Ferguson publicly backed the Argentine to score at least 15 goals in his first season. He exceeded that target, scoring 19 times in 48 appearances.
More importantly, he developed an immediate understanding with Rooney. Their partnership became one of the defining features of a United side that overwhelmed opponents through movement, pressing and relentless attacking intent.
“Playing with Carlos is brilliant,” Rooney told MUTV. “He’s a clever player, very intelligent, and I think we both work well together.”
By that point, United had won eight consecutive Premier League matches, including a 4-1 victory over Middlesbrough in which Tevez scored twice, and Rooney added another. Both of Tevez’s goals came from Rooney’s assists.
United sat top of the table and already looked well placed to retain their title despite it only being October.
“We’ve both been scoring a few goals lately so we’re pleased with that. I know it’s my job to score goals and I try and score in every game I play.
“I’m not getting too involved with the build-up play but I’ve started to score ‘easy’ goals which I’ve never really done.
“I know where Carlos plays – just in behind the opposition’s midfield. That is where I like to play as well, but I feel as if I can change my game to whoever I play with.”
Part of the partnership’s success stemmed from the flexibility Ferguson had across his front line.
Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo could all occupy different positions without disrupting the team’s shape. Tevez could operate through the middle or drift wide, Ronaldo threatened from either flank, while Rooney regularly dropped into deeper areas to connect attacks and release runners beyond him.
That fluidity made United difficult to defend against and allowed Rooney and Tevez to complement one another rather than occupy the same spaces.
The numbers support that argument. Among all the players Rooney featured alongside during his 13 years at United, Tevez owns the second-best points-per-game ratio (2.26) of any teammate to play at least 35 matches with him. Only Anderson ranks higher with a marginally superior return of 2.29.
During an appearance on Monday Night Football in 2018, Rooney reflected on his United career and revealed which forward he enjoyed playing alongside most.
“(Carlos) Tevez would be my preferred partner,” he said when asked who was the best.
“We suited each other’s games. Louis Saha was brilliant as well but the thing with Tevez we worked off each other and we’d stick with each other. He’d go around and I’d go behind.
“I’ll always remember it must have been horrible for defenders to face. When we haven’t got the ball we’d be in their face.
“There was a lot talk when he signed that we wouldn’t be able to play together. We hit it off from the start and played well together. I really enjoyed playing with him.”
Their final match together came in the 2-0 defeat to Barcelona in the 2009 Champions League final. Within weeks, Tevez had completed one of the most controversial moves in modern Manchester football.
Tevez’s controversial move
The rivalry between Manchester United and Manchester City stretches back well over a century, but one episode in the early 1900s helped shape the trajectory of both clubs.
In 1905, City were found guilty of paying players above the Football League’s £4-per-week wage limit. At the same time, star winger Billy Meredith received a suspension for his involvement in a match-fixing scandal, although many historians have since argued the circumstances were more nuanced than the punishment suggested.
With City facing financial difficulties and carrying debts of £900, the club had little choice but to break up much of its squad.
United manager Ernest Mangnall took advantage. He signed Meredith, Herbert Burgess, Sandy Turnbull and Jimmy Bannister, effectively laying the foundations for United’s emergence as a major force in English football.
While City lost momentum, United won two league titles and an FA Cup under Mangnall, establishing themselves as the dominant club in Manchester for decades to come.
More than 120 years later, numerous players have crossed the divide between the two clubs, although most did so indirectly or through youth football.
Tevez was different. Technically, he joined City after a loan spell from West Ham rather than directly from United, but few supporters saw it that way. The emotional impact felt exactly the same.
The move became even more provocative when City unveiled the now-famous “Welcome to Manchester” billboard overlooking Deansgate in the summer of 2009.
For United supporters, it was an obvious dig. Ferguson viewed it the same way.
“They are a small club with a small mentality.
“All they can talk about is Manchester United; they can’t get away from it. That arrogance will be rewarded. It is a go at us, that’s the one thing it is. They think taking Carlos Tevez away from Manchester United is a triumph. It is poor stuff.”
Did Tevez make the correct decision?
From a purely footballing perspective, there is a strong argument that he did. Across four seasons with Manchester City, Tevez made 148 appearances and scored 73 goals. By comparison, he scored 34 in 99 matches for United.
Had he remained at Old Trafford, he would have collected two more Premier League titles. Yet those successes are difficult to separate from what unfolded across Manchester in 2012.
Sergio Aguero’s stoppage-time winner against QPR secured City’s first league title in 44 years and remains one of the defining moments in Premier League history. Tevez played his part in that triumph.
He also won the first FA Cup of his career, helping City beat Manchester United 1-0 in the semi-final before overcoming Stoke City by the same scoreline in the final.
The final decade of his playing career took him across three very different footballing landscapes.
Seven years with boyhood club Boca Juniors delivered four league titles. Two seasons at Juventus brought two Serie A crowns and a Coppa Italia. A brief spell with Shanghai Shenhua yielded a Chinese FA Cup and a reported salary of £610,000 per week, making him the highest-paid player in world football at the time.
For many neutral supporters, Tevez remains a symbol of a particular type of Premier League forward: aggressive, relentless and fiercely competitive, yet capable of moments of real quality.
Ask Manchester United and Manchester City supporters about him, however, and the answers are likely to be very different.
